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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

When it comes to rigging up a portable sketch kit, Velcro is
the key*. After devising a tiny paint box made from a Trader Joe’s mint tin
and Daniel Smith watercolor sticks, I had to resolve the issue of juggling the
paint box, mixing palette and sketchbook when sketching while standing up. Here’s
my solution.

Velcro attached to tin and name plate.

I attached a small strip of industrial-strength Velcro to
the bottom of the paint box (unfortunately, this means I
had to remove the color swatch card, which I found a place for in a sketchbook).

The other side of the Velcro strip went on a door name plate
from a previous corporate job (which I found in the bottom of my desk drawer
where I keep potentially useful things like that). I chose the name plate
mainly because it’s the right size and weight and also firm enough to support
the weight of the mint tin. (I also like the mild irony of reusing a relic from
my former corporate life to support my current creative life.)

Now comes the best part: The whole assembly attaches
directly to the sketchbook with a binder clip, which secures the other end of
the name plate to the sketchbook cover. The solution works equally well with my
pocket-sized Moleskine, 5” x 8” Moleskine and 5 1/2” x 8 1/2” Stillman & Birn. My
right hand holds only the sketchbook, and my left is free to paint!
﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿I’m pleased that all of this came together in a very short
time. The most time-consuming part about the entire project was removing all
the gummy adhesive residue on the mint tin and the back of the name plate with
lighter fluid.

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Internet art world is full of amazingly creative
artists, not only in the art they create, but also in the ways they modify tools or repurpose materials to suit their needs. I am especially inspired
and impressed by sketch kits I see – the smaller and more portable, the better.
Some of the best ideas are on a ridiculously long-running thread on the Wet Canvas forum, on Russ Stutler’s highly informative Book About Sketching,
and on an impromptu thread that recently grew on the Sketching Forum.

In fact, devising a watercolor paint box that contains the greatest
number of colors in the tiniest space possible is practically a
competitive sport. Not to be outdone, I decided it was time to come up with my
own.

Not that competitiveness was the primary motive. Up until
now, I have been mostly happy with my off-the-shelf Sakura Koi watercolor box with its 24 colors and convenient, built-in mixing wells. But the box
itself, measuring 6” x 4.5” x 1”, can get heavy and somewhat cumbersome when
trying to paint while standing. So I was interested in making a smaller,
lighter box. That was the motivation.

But the inspiration for my box was attending a recent demo
of Daniel Smith watercolor sticks by Seattle-area artist Che Lopez
(seen in these video demos). Che had a Winsor & Newton Bijou box that he had filled with cut-up chunks of watercolor sticks instead of
traditional watercolor pans. Since I had not yet acquired much of a collection
of either pans, tube paints, sticks or anything else that might go into a
watercolor box, I was starting with a fresh palette, so to speak. Why not
sticks?

I knew instantly which box would house my paints: Trader Joe’s
Green Tea Mints are my spouse-man Greg’s favorite, and I am fond of the bright
green tin with a clear plastic window that the mints come in, so I had saved several.
The tin measures 2¼” x 2¼” x ¾”, so it is appealingly small and light.

The paint box came together in a very short time. I used a
utility knife to cut off quarter-inch stubs from the sticks. With a brush, I
dabbed a somewhat generous drop of water onto one end, and smushed the stub
down firmly into the box bottom. Once the water dried completely, the stubs
were firmly attached. I was able to get 16 colors to fit. I’ve been carrying
the box around in my purse all week, and the colors haven’t popped off yet.

The only issue is the very handy mixing wells attached to
the Sakura Koi box, which I sorely miss. For now, I’m using a plastic mixing
well that is about the same dimensions as my smallest sketchbook, but since it’s
not attached to the paint box, it was something of a juggling act at a recent visit to the zoo, where I typically have to stand while sketching
and painting. I tried using a binder clip to attach the mixing well to the tin
lid, but it was rickety at best. So that part of the sketch kit still needs
work. (See Part 2: Velcro is the Key for the resolution.)

On the day of the solstice, it actually felt like summer,
and the animals at the zoo seemed to appreciate the sunshine as much as we did.
More animals than usual were out and about, running and grazing, just like we were. Unfortunately,
their activity meant I could capture fewer of them with my sketchbook. It was
fun to watch them nonetheless.

Unlike the wallaby nursing her joey, whom I could see only
from a distance, this Steller’s sea-eagle posed for me up close and personal
for many minutes.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Everything I’ve ever read or heard about improving one’s
photos includes this advice: Move in close and fill the frame with the subject.

It turns out that this advice is worth heeding when
sketching, too.

On a sunny afternoon, the playground at Green Lake was a
popular place for the stroller set. I started sketching a swing set that proved
to be a miserable challenge – difficult perspective, both parents and kids
moving too quickly, lots of action but no focal point.

6/21/12, F-C Pitt Artists Pen, watercolor

While seated on the same bench, I “zoomed in” closer with my
eyes to pick out one toddler with her mom. I’m not sure if the sketch is any
better, but at least the composition is.

I zoomed in on the boy on the slide too, but he posed an
additional challenge. Unlike adults in coffee shops working on their laptops, kids
never stay still (a startling discovery!). I used the same strategy I
learned from trying to sketch a restless bear at the zoo: Sooner or later, the pacing
animal will reappear in the same location with the same gesture, probably many
times. So the first time the boy sat at the top of the slide, I caught the
position of his head and shoulders. He was having a great time, so I knew he’d
reappear. The second time down, I managed to get his torso. And so on, until I
finished the sketch.

The construction site – stacks of lumber, bare studs, lots
of parallel lines and perspective challenges – was overwhelming, and I didn’t
know where to begin. So I took the easy way out and warmed up with several
gesture studies of some of the volunteer workers.

6/16/12, F-C Pitt Artist Pen, watercolor, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

Eventually I moved to a
different location and spotted a bright yellow forklift, but I thought the
composition needed a human or two. Munching a protein bar for lunch, I pondered
the composition a while. Cue fellow sketcher Chris, who stopped to sketch the
forklift himself. He was exactly what I needed to give the heavy equipment a
sense of scale. I sketched Chris first, knowing that he would probably wander
away soon, which he did, and I finished the sketch in time to join the others
for show and tell.

Friday, June 15, 2012

When I asked Chandler (instructor of the figure drawing class I took last weekend) how I might practice sketching at home without a
model, she suggested using photos from the sports section of the newspaper, and
I realized immediately what a great idea that is. I have no interest in sports,
but as I routinely chuck the unopened sports section into the recycle bin, I am often stopped
by the dramatic action photos I see published on the first page. So I retrieved yesterday’s
sports section from the bin and found this ball player’s image, which made a
useful gesture study.

For some female figures to practice, I continued rummaging
through the recycle bin and found a TravelSmith catalog with plenty of swimsuit
and lingerie photos to choose from. Shading the negative space formed by the
model’s arm helped me to position the arm’s angle correctly. Using different
colored markers was useful in restating lines.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Our last session of Jane Richlovsky’s “Drawing on Location” class was spent at the Seattle Center with a model dressed in ‘60s
clothes to match the mood of Century 21’s 50th anniversary. The
format of the sketchbook I brought that day wouldn’t allow me to get both the
model and the full Space Needle in the same sketch, but at least I got the
fountain. Jane suggested I try using her white pencil, which acted as a resist to the watercolor, to indicate the fountain water.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Heading toward the zoo on a sunny Friday afternoon, the top
down on my Miata, I suddenly remembered that it was June, and that meant the Phinney Farmer’s Market was now open. Making a quick change of plans, I wandered
through this friendly neighborhood market to sniff the pizza and flowers and
scope out a location where I could sketch. Directly across from a flower
vendor, I found the ledge of a raised planting bed that was ideal for sketching.
I was having so much fun that I hardly noticed how dark the sky was growing
until the shadows I was planning to paint disappeared. A woman sitting next to
me on the ledge smiled at my sketch and said, “You’d better hurry and finish
painting before it rains,” pointing to the dark clouds. I made a few quick
purchases, still holding my sketchbook open to dry, and got the top up on my
car just before the drops started to fall.

Monday, June 11, 2012

I spent an intensive weekend learning figure drawing from Chandler Woodfin at Pratt. By the end of each full day of trying to find the “gesture”
in a live model, I came home exhausted, but I think I learned more about
drawing the past two days than I ever have. In a nutshell, locating the “gesture,”
and therefore the expression, of a figure is all about the position of the
shoulders and hips. If the gesture is correct, then the proportions will be
correct. Much easier said than done! Nonetheless, after 39 drawings, I was surprised
and pleased by my own progress.

At some point during the weekend, I mentioned to Chandler
that my personal objective in taking the workshop was to be able to sketch
people in action so that their bodies had correct proportions, and they looked
like real people and not statues. Drawing a professional model who can hold
stock-still for 20 minutes is one thing, I said. But how do I apply what I’m
learning to the real world, where a person walking past me is gone within
seconds? Her reply: Practice. With practice, my eye and brain would
learn to visually capture and remember the gesture of a person walking by long
enough to finish the sketch, even though the person was no longer in my field
of view. When she saw my expression, she said, smiling, “There’s no magic trick
to it. Just practice.”

Friday, June 8, 2012

While the rest of my party continued to chat and digest the
luscious buffet brunch (including chocolate fountain!) at Shanghai Red’s
Marina Del Rey restaurant, I slipped away for some quick sketching. Along with
gulls, a number of more unusual birds hung out at this marina, including lots
of pelicans and some smaller, white, long-legged birds that resemble
sandpipers.

Later I discovered that Monica had also slipped away from
the brunch to photograph the marina (and me sketching).

Thursday, June 7, 2012

The past few weeks I’ve been taking Jane Richlovsky’s
“Drawing on Location” class through Pratt. Each week we meet at a
different location to focus on a particular sketching challenge. Last week it
was trees (definitely one of the most challenging sketching subjects), at right, at the arboretum.

Yesterday it was water at the Ballard Locks, where I
tried to capture the texture of water’s surface with sumi ink (below). But as the class
sketched various scenes of water, I was also captivated by ever-changing clouds.
With Jane’s help, I gave this equally challenging subject a shot with
watercolors (left). The narrow, vertical format enabled me to
sketch a slim slice of sky, land and water, which was much less overwhelming
than the typical horizontal landscape.

This is Gerry, one of my new family members (as a result of
the wedding that took place in L.A. last weekend). The house full of people, everyone
engaged in various conversations, I quietly pulled out my sketchbook. He looked
engrossed in his conversation, so I hoped he wouldn’t notice me. I’ve gotten pretty
good at sketching strangers in coffee shops, but this was the first time
I boldly sketched someone I knew, sitting only a few feet away. I was too shy
to show the sketch to him at the time, but he saw it the next day and (kindly)
said he saw a resemblance.

A whirlwind weekend in L.A. for my niece Kristen’s wedding
allowed me some time to visit the J. Paul Getty Museum. This gem of an
institution is impressive not only for its art collection but also for its
gardens and architecture. Spending less than a day there, I had barely skimmed
the surface, but I did manage to catch a sketching class offered twice a month
by local artists. Free! And admission to the museum is free, too! I decided
that if I lived in L.A., I would be there regularly, enjoying the art, grounds
and education.﻿﻿﻿

6/3/12, fountain pen, Hand Book sketchbook

The sketch at right shows a detail of a sculpture called Python Killing a Gnu by Antoine-Louis
Barge (1796 – 1875).

Sharing a table with a museum guard on his lunch break, I stopped
at a sculptural fountain for a sketch (below) and some beautiful SoCal sunshine (the
June Gloom had burned off by then). After finishing his sandwich, the guard pulled out a sketchbook, too. If I worked there, I’d probably spend all
my lunch breaks that way.

I’m looking forward to quite a bit of travel this summer and
plenty of sketching opportunities that travel brings. Even flying – the part I
enjoy least about travel – offers lethargic, captive models, easy targets for
my pen and sketchbook.